wow what a day!

today was a fantastic day in colorado!! i woke up in my hotel- not to maryln like i was expecting, but to hannibal lecter! they must have selected the wrong option for me, so when i woke from my slumber, good old hannibal said "its time to wake up dear, i have breakfast ready for you with a side of faba beans and a nice chianti, (and then that weird noise he makes). so not so nice to wake up to after all! anyways, the day improved from there on out.

i left at about 10am to drive to boulder. i decided not to stay around denver, i am going to do that tomorrow. boulder is a cool little town near the uni, lots of students, its about 40 minutes from denver. there are lots of bicycles! it is a fitness crazy town, lots of outdoor fanatics live here. i felt very lazy! mark- you would have hated it! even on the massive freeway (80mph) there is a bike lane, there must have been 100 cyclists that i passed- insane. it was a bit foggy driving there so couldn't see any mountains.i had read in my guidebook about the pearl street mall. its a lovely paved mall with lots of little shops, buskers and lots of flowers. i browsed around there for an hour, had some breakfast and then left to drive further into the mountains to the  ranch. here are some pics:

this is the mall in boulder where i was shopping. there were lots of boutique jewelry stores, art galleries and antique stores- i resisted temptation, could have bought lots of things!

 when i left boulder the fog had cleared and i drove through the mountains. it was a very windy road, with some clearings. as i got further out of boulder i started to get glimpses of that view that simply takes your breath away!

 this is a pic of me with the horse i rode. he had a long unusual name that i cant remember! he was very slow and plodded along. there were a few people in our group that had never ridden before so it was a nose to tail affair. but the scenery was magnificent so cant complain!

 all ready to go! Mom you would have been pleased with me, i was the only person in the whole group wearing a helmet! there were young kids riding and people who had never ridden before and no one was wearing hats, its optional. mostly the horses were ok but a few typical trail ride squabbles when they try to pass eachother, luckily no one fell off because the ground is 95% covered with rocks! crazy stuff.

 This is the view as we were leaving the ranch to head up the trail. you can see the horses in their pen and the mountains in the background.

 the view from the trail

me on the trail!

this is our cowboy guide showing us the different areas we could see. he used to be a professional bullrider before he fell off and shattered part of his spine, he was in a wheelchair for awhile and they told him he wouldnt walk again, but he is better now and doesnt ride bulls anymore but he rides horses instead!

 more views...

 if you look behind the cowboy guide you can see three deer. we saw a few on the ride. they don't run away, the guide said they can't distinguish between the smell of horses and us, so they just think the horses are strolling past. they were really cute deer, with little white tails and massive ears!

 these are some other deer we saw in the trees, they were a bit more skittish. i think they may be elk? they were a lot bigger than the deer.

so that was my horseride, im very glad that i went. it would be more fun if the ride was a bit more exciting, but i still enjoyed it, it was nice to be on horseback again! i started driving back to boulder, to look at a few more shops on the way home.

this is the view behind me on the way back towards boulder

 on the way i couldnt help but stop at this little farm stall on the side of the road the colorado cherry company. they have about ten different types of fruit ciders, apple, blackberry, cherry etc etc... i didnt try too many because i was driving. i did buy a bottle of cherry juice though. they had lots of jams, sauces and honey varieties. they also have homemade cherry pie so i stopped and had a slice, that was my dinner. it was incredible, easily the best pie i have ever eaten.

 this is what their graffiti looks like in colorado, pretty cool !

 i stopped in boulder for an hour but then i was pretty tired so i drove back to my hotel in denver. it was still light outside so i went for a walk, there is another pedestrian mall a few blocks away. i had a browse around but most of the shops were already closed. i did find a cool shop with some cowboy boots, might have found a pair for Eoin :) aren't they cool? they are all handmade and the detail is incredible.

i got a little bit lost but hopped on a free shuttle bus and found my way back to my hotel. this is the street outside my hotel (it is a really nice area, lots of expensive restaurants and designer stores). The whole street is lined with fairy lights and it is very romantic. As I was taking a photo of the street view, a horse and carriage arrived and stopped right in front of me - what a perfect picture! A beautiful end to a beautiful day.